2016 Blog Goals - Revisited!

Every year I set goals for my blog to work towards, whether it be writing skills. followers, brand collaborations or photography. I also evaluate my goals to see whether I've achieved them, and then write a 2017 version based on what I have achieved in the previous year.
Blog My main aim for 2016 was to work with more amazing brands and I've definitely achieved my goal, even further than I could have ever expected. This year I've worked with Urban Decay, YSL, GlamGlow, Degustabox, Debenhams and many more brands. My goal was to collaborate with more brands mainly in the beauty department to both showcase some new makeup products but also to bring fresh content to my blog. Whilst working with new brands is great, I wanted to continue my previous relationship, especially with brands such as L'Oréal Paris. They're an amazing company to work with an continue to surprise me with their releases. 
I had a goal to create different content, with more beauty and fashion based posts. Pre-2016 my blog was a huge mixture of beauty, fashion and lifestyle but this year it's developed into primarily a beauty blog. Whilst I've not created many fashion posts, I'm okay with that since I find beauty and makeup products more interesting for me, and they're easier to photograph for me. I did create different types of posts this year however, including Halloween and Festival makeup looks which I enjoyed and will definitely make more of next year.
Photography I think the biggest milestone was crossing over to produce photos that not only would I be proud of but brands would be too. I've had emails to ask me how to take blog photos using my Olympus Pen E-PL7 and brands saying they've found me through Instagram because of my photographs which is a huge compliment. Now I'm not the best at taking blog photos but I've improved so much that I really enjoy taking photos now instead of it being a chore.
I now also own softbox lights which I've only used once so far but as the weather is gloomy and dark at the moment I will be probably bringing them out a bit more. Since getting to know my camera and the lenses I'm taking brighter photos first, without having to edit them after.

Social Media Followers Like I said at the beginning of this year, your followers aren't everything. They do however influence which brands will work with you since they have to narrow down their search and this is one way they do this. I didn't hit my 2,000 Bloglovin Goal but I've surpassed 1,900 followers which is close enough, as is Twitter where I aimed to hit 8,000 but have passed 7,500.
My Pinterest goal was high but I actually more than doubled my goal and surpassed 15,200 followers which is amazing. I'm thinking about writing a post in the new year about how I did this since I tend to get questions every once in a while. When I wrote the goals post for 2016 I was on 3,500 followers so in the past year I've gained over 11,700 Pinterest followers. I also passed my Instagram goal of 2,000 followers by hitting over 3,200 followers but my 2017 goal will be a fair bit higher! 
Now we're at the end of 2016 I've nearly hit 30,000 combined followers which is amazing and definitely helps my standing when brands are choosing whether to work with me or not. I'll have to have a think about what I'll be aiming for in terms of that. This year I've also passed 200,000 views on Blogger and I wish I had installed Google Analytics when I started my blog as I would love to see what the difference is there since I'm now hitting 10,000-11,000 blog hits per month there (appears as 12,000-16,000 on Blogger).

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Lydc Clutch Bag Review

I'm a huge lover of multipurpose products and when LYDC sent me this beautiful Lucille Grey Cross Body Bag (£32.00) I knew it was perfect for me. It has a detachable strap meaning you can take it from the day, wearing it over a shoulder with enough room for your essentials in, to the night as a clutch bag big enough for your clubbing and other needs. It's grey on the front and white on the inside with the most beautiful gold detailing.

With the material being soft and smooth it's wipe clean so even the white areas of the bag are protected. The strap is adjustable to suit whatever your needs and the pocket at the front is secured with a zip and is perfect for popping your phone in if you didn't want to put it inside the middle of the bag. It feels a lot more expensive than £32 and I'm so impressed so far. It's big enough to fit everything I need in it, and sometime in the new year I'll be featuring the bag in an outfit of the day post to show just how you can take this bag from day to night. I'm excited to plan some outfits to put this with as the colours allow a lot of versatility since it's grey and white.

LYDC have some beautiful items at the moment such as the sleek backpacks and sequinned clutch bags with something to suit every occasion. Make sure to give them a follow over on twitter as they love getting involved with twitter chats with us bloggers and the girls there can assist you when looking to buy a bag or purse from them. Check out their mermaid clutch too - it's stunning.

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Kiko Haul & Review

After visiting the new Kiko store in Manchester not too long ago, the lovely online Kiko ladies sent me out the cutest packaged filled with my favourite Kiko products that I swatched in store, and more. The first thing you notice about Kiko products is the packaging. Simple, beautiful and effective.
Intensely Lavish Lipstick from the Rebel Romantic Collection in the shade Luscious Red is instantly my favourite product due to its packaging. If you follow me on Pinterest you'll know how much I love rose gold and this sums me up as a lipstick entirely. What I noticed from this lipstick is that it is the creamiest lip product I've ever used and I was not expecting it at all. I wore it underneath a red Primark lip liner and lasted a decent amount of time but did need topping up. I actually wore it to work and had a ton of compliments as the shade is stunning and it is hands down one of my favourite lipsticks ever, and that includes Mac and Charlotte Tilbury.
Also from the Rebel Romantic Collection is the Reckless Spirit Eyeshadow palette which is a perfect everyday palette that is small enough to fit in your handbag. It comes with cream to brown shades for a natural looking smoky eye, a little applicator and mirror to apply. I always wear an eye primer to ensure my makeup lasts its longest and these didn't disappoint. Easy to blend and as pigmented as you would expect; I'm impressed.
With similar packaging as it is from the same line is the Perfecting Bronzer which is a powder product with the effect of a cream which offers an even finish and natural looking tan which is great for contouring. I had it on today, and with normally wearing my Benefit Hoola bronzer, I think this actually suits my skin tone a little better. In the shade Light-Medium will obviously mean it suits paler skin better, something you don't get with Benefit but they're both as blendable as each other.
The fourth Rebel Romantic product is this beautiful Metallic Shine Eyeshadow in Absolutely Rose which is long lasting, creamy, shimmery and has a huge colour payoff. I was blown away by how pretty this is and if I could have it my way, I'd wear it everyday. I did forget to take a photo of the eyeshadow as you can see, but just imagine a super shimmery lilac eyeshadow that really suits pale skin and blonde hair...
The Matte Muse Liquid Lipstick from the Midnight Siren Collection confused me at first as on the outside it looks like a nail varnish due to the bulky size and large lid. I enjoyed wearing this since I have recently been trying out a lot of matte liquid lipsticks and so far so good! I do need to wear this a little more to give a full review.
To finish off a look using these Kiko products, the Liquid Intense Eyeliner in Brown offers a smooth line with a shiny finish and pairs well with the brown eyeshadow shades from the Reckless Spirit palette. I didn't seen much movement from this meaning it is long lasting and even with a primer for my oily lids you know it won't ruin your eye makeup.
Overall you can tell that Kiko have put a lot of thought into their products and they seem to be going down a treat in the blogging world. As I mentioned in my previous post, I went to the Alicante store and never managed to buy anything, but since the nearest store is a 20/30 minute car drive away I can imagine you'll soon see some more Kiko products in my makeup collection.

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Nyx Soft Matte Lip Cream Collection

So I fell pretty hard on the Nyx bandwagon in the last month. I heard a product was good and I bought as many as I could afford. And I'm so happy that I did. The shades I have here are Amsterdam, Antwerp, Athens, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Monte Carlo, Prague and Tokyo. As you can tell, I went for a complete mixture of shades to attempt to have one for every occasion. I ordered them off Boots (where you can get 10% student discount from, so make the most of it!) so the photos weren't exactly true to what the website shown. If you shop on Boots.com regularly you'll know that the images are so tiny for the colour selector, and with being an American product only recently entering the UK, it's hard to get photos to see true shades.
Nevertheless, once I placed my first order of four, I wanted more. See what I did there? I wanted a dark shade so went for Copenhage, a fairly neutral shade so went for Anterwep and a baby pink in the shade Tokyo. They all seem to be pretty pigmented, with an even finish, lasting a hell of a lot longer than the MUA Luxe liquid lipsticks. The MUA ones last fine until you eat where they all come off which is a real shame so went for Nyx this time. They lasted through a meal and drinks and I touched the colour up once just to make it a bit more creamy. Sometimes with matte lip products they severely dry your lips out, but this formula doesn't affect your lips at all. 
I aimed to do swatches of these but I don't think it will be worth it until my next order of colours arrive and I can do an updated post. I know that in America they cost around £3 and here they're £5.50 but they're so worth the money, especially if you're wanting drugstore alternatives to the ABH and YSL alternatives that will really break the bank. The shade I'm most excited to try out in the future is Transylvania which appears to be a really dark purple shade, perfect for this time of year.

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Blog Goals For 2016

Although I've never really written down my exact goals for each year of blogging, I've always had them in mind. It's so rewarding to hit each milestone and that's why this year, I'm keeping a note of what I want to achieve from my blog and social media accounts and will report back in a years time.


My Blog 

I'm fairly happy with my blog layout, but I'm fully prepared to pay to have it redesigned to fit my needs. My sidebar just doesn't fit no matter how many times I try to alter it and I can't pick another font for my headings since I'm limited to what I can do on Blogger. I'd love to have a full design that fitted my blog as a brand with some fancy features like a scrollbar or a nicer 'popular posts' section. My header was done by the amazing Jemma from Dorkface and I'm really happy with it so don't want it changing as far as I can see. 

 
For content, I'd love to feature more food and travel posts, and going to Los Angeles in April will almost certainly help with that. I'll be collaborating with two exciting brands in the New Year which I'm really looking forward to, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Overall, I'd love to work with some more amazing brands, and keep the positive relationship that I have with the ones I collab with already. Once my confidence improves I'd love to feature more fashion posts and also close up makeup shots (on me) to really show off some fabulous products.


Photography 

I think my photography has had a huge improvement in the past few months and since buying my Olympus Pen E-PL7 I'm quickly learning how to take professional looking photographs in minutes. I'd love to improve further by using both of my lenses with the camera to their full advantage and to demonstrate the quality of beauty products through this. The team at L'Oréal Paris complimented my La Vie En Rose photographs which was a huge confidence booster and it's great knowing you can please who you're working with too.


Social Media Followers 

Blogging isn't always about followers, but they do help. Not only do they improve your blog traffic, but they help you gain recognition, open you up to new collaborations and keep you on track to know you're doing well. On Bloglovin' I've not really grown much in the 22 months I've been blogging which is disappointing. I'm not sure why, but it is disheartening. Buy the end of 2016 I'd love to reach 2,000 followers there. Over on Twitter I've had a huge surge which is so pleasing since that's where I focus most of my attention by talking to other bloggers and brands, alongside getting involved in chats and promoting my blog posts. I'm close to 5,000 followers now so I'm setting myself a huge target of getting to 8,000 followers over there which may seem unachieveable, but it's a goal. 

 
Instagram is a huge love of mine and I put a lot of hard work into getting good photographs for it, but again my followers don't grow much there. I think it's so hard to gain Instagram followers so those who are 'Instagram Famous' must put so much time into their profile. By the end of next year it would be lovely to go past the 2,000 mark. Pinterest seems to have had the biggest influx of followers over the past few months and I've managed to hit 3,500 followers pretty quickly. Since it's easier to gain followers there and gain referrals to your blog, I'd love to hit 7,000 followers there - doubling what I have now.

Can I do it? Who knows. The most important goal overall is to improve my blog; with every word written, photograph taken and every backlink I give myself. My heart is in this more than it may be perceived and I want to show the World that this is my portfolio of what could be a future career. Not only is it work experience if you're going into PR/Marketing, but it develops skills that may have gotten a bit rusty since you left school. I'm going to be more vocal about my blog and not shy away from it when people ask about it. I may even venture into getting a Facebook page for it. What do you think?

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Tarte Lights, Camera, Flashes Mascara Review

You may have seen in September I went to the NWMeet kindly hosted by Katy & Sam, and was more than blown away by the goodie bag they gave us. I've never used any Tarte products since they're an American brand but was super keen to try this out to see how it faired. The packaging is like no other, really making a statement about the brand. It is quite bulky I found so can't be placed neatly in makeup storage unless you have really deep muji drawers.
The wand is like a comb style wand, as opposed to the normal thick brushes I use so I was a little apprehensive. I do enjoy using Benefit's They're Real mascara so I thought it would be pretty similar. What I did find when I applied it was that it is pretty thick. The comb separates the lashes a little, but it isn't anything groundbreaking. The colour is perfect as it's a really dark black (I mean you can't get much wrong with a black colour) which goes in my favour with my white-blonde eyelashes.
I usually stay really clear from this type of wand since I find I poke myself with the spiky bristles really easy and my eyes water like no other. This happened when using this mascara and this is one of the main reasons I tend to go for this brush wands since they're eye-friendly. Overall, I think this would be great for clubbing, or blending false eyelashes with your own as its nice and thick for when you want that effect, but it isn't an everyday mascara for me.

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Things To Remember When Blogging

Know your worth 

Bloggers seem to undermine themselves so much when they really don't realise that they are worth so much more than they think! You're putting your time and effort into your writing, photography and social media posts and some people and brands may not appreciate how much time is spent perfecting your own personal space on the internet. You may collaborate with a brand and they expect posts to go up much quicker than possible as to them, you may seem to not do anything else apart from blog. You're valuable, as is your blog. Don't let anyone charge you a few pounds for a post you have to handwrite and add links to. See Michelle's post to see an example of how to value your blogging time and effort, but how much you should charge per post.

Make some goals 

Think about what you want to achieve from your blog. Whether it be using a new camera to improve your photography, working with a particular brand or reaching a certain number of followers. It is all relative and each goal you achieve is so motivating to improving your blog. My goals for this year were to buy a new camera, to start using natural light more, to learn how to use Photoshop and to reach 5,000 followers on Twitter. So far I've achieved all but the latter (but not far off) and I can't tell you how proud I am of my blog. Even within the past 6 months it has improved in quality so much.

Stand your ground 

This is something close to the heart that I see tons of bloggers getting stuck in the middle of every day. Someone wants to work with you, but is offering sub-par compensation (products, payment or otherwise) and wants a ton of work from you. You know you're worth more, so stand your ground. I've had so many emails offering me £10 for a blog post that takes around three hours work and I will stand my ground no matter what. It's perfectly reasonable to come to a compromise when discussing sponsored posts if you wish. What also annoys me is companies sending out contracts that the majority of bloggers will not understand. I read through one over summer and they were asking, in legal speak, for you to hand over the rights to all your photos, for them to be able to use your photos and words for advertising (to then make money out of) and if they weren't happy with your review, you had to send the product which was worth less than £10 back to them. I was not happy and told them exactly what I thought of it, which was essentially fobbing bloggers off with language that only law students/graduates and those in legal jobs would understand. Stand your ground.

Develop some skills 

I've said this earlier, and although blogging is a hobby to most, you may as well develop some skills whilst you're at it. You never know, the collaborations from your skill set could have you working with some amazing brands, or help turn your hobby into a job. You don't need to pay to improve your skills either, you may simply realise how to make the most out of natural light when taking a photograph, maybe expand your vocabulary to make your posts flow better or even have a go at designing your own blog header. The world is your oyster and your blog is exactly what you make of it.

Do what you want to do 

Most importantly, do what you want to with your blog. If you're a strictly food blog for example, don't feel pressured to write a post about a lipstick or a handbag. If you aren't comfortable taking outfit photos then don't do it - take flat photos to show them off that way. Don't feel like you need to go for a certain type of blog layout with a £30 blog design just because others are doing it. I change my mind about things on my blog all the time but that is exactly what gives it a personality. I am not a food blogger, but if I want to collab with a brand and do a recipe post then I will. If you need a break from blogging then take it. Be reasonable with what you're achieving and who you're working with, but ultimately your blog only involves your decisions, so make the most of it. 

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Campaign To End Loneliness

Sunrise Living have came up with this campaign to raise awareness about loneliness in old age and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to share their campaign and show what I did to get involved. Loneliness can be detrimental to a person's health no matter what age you are, but it tends to get worse as we get older. It can help contribute towards depression and anxiety along with missing out on seeing your family grow up.
My Nan is in her 70's and has unfortunately been divorced for nearly 40 years. She has a daughter and a son (my Dad) and they left her house when they grew up and moved out about 20 years ago (my Dad had me in his early twenties if you're confused about the ages) so she has been living in the house by herself ever since. My Auntie stays with her sometimes, my brother stays with her once a week and I try to visit her when I'm not in work. She looks after my little sister Sofia once/twice a week so she does get visitors, we don't leave her! While she sees her friends, or "the girls" as she says, despite one of them being a male, she doesn't see a huge group of people very often.
Sunrise Living gave us some money towards food shopping to make something for my Nan and sent us a game of Uno and a pack of playing cards so us grandchildren could all get around a table and spend quality time together. My boyfriend is behind the camera in this photo so he joined in as well. I decided to make Creme Brulee as she really enjoys it, and added chocolate to some since they weren't as keen, especially my fussy little sister. We taught her how to play Uno and certain card games and she really enjoyed the day. Getting around the table even once every few weeks can make a huge difference. I like to think of my Nan as another Mum since she helped raise me and the thought of her feeling like she has nobody to see really upsets me, even more so at this time of year. Luckily she is coming over on Christmas morning to see us all and I may have bought her more presents than I meant to because I kept thinking about her when out shopping.
If someone you know is feeling lonely, why not ask to have a chat over a cup of tea? Take a walk with them or even give them a quick phone call to see how they're doing. My Nan is not the only one who feels lonely and she really appreciated us making the effort to all get together at the same time since it rarely happens. Make someone's day even if you don't realise they're lonely.

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Current Favourite Perfumes

Daisy Dream - Marc Jacobs

I first discovered this in Sephora last year when in Paris and fell in love with it instantly. Tons of bloggers were sent it during the summer and from the reviews I knew it was for me before testing it out. Once I sprayed it on myself and let it settle I knew I would have to pick it up at some point. Last Christmas I was gifted the large bottle and the one below it in size and have gone through so much of the smaller bottle as it goes in my handbag. It's very fresh and sweet without smelling like a kid's perfume.

Joyful - Escada*

If you'v ever entered Dave Lackie's twitter giveaways you'll know he is extremely generous and I was lucky enough to win this Escada perfume which is worth around £50 and it smells absolutely incredible. Not as sweet as Daisy Dream and seems to be suitable for everyone! I've used about a third of it in a year and a half and I'm using it on special occasions since I definitely can't afford to splash out on another bottle.

212 Surf - Caroline Herrera

When I was about 14 I used to always wear 212 Sexy but I ran out of it and never repurchased it. When a family member passed 212 Surf down to me as it didn't suit her taste, I had high expectations and it met them. I would only wear this during the summer but the thing I love most about the 212 range is that there is two small bottles per scent so they're perfect for your handbag.

Princess - Very Wang

This was first perfume I became obsessed with, probably at the age of 16. I used to receive it as a gift every Christmas and it will always remain in my perfume collection as it is such a pretty scent for all year round. This huge bottle was a gift off my family this summer which I'm slowly making my way through. I just love how girly the packaging is, despite the crown and base constantly falling off if I pick it up.

As you can tell, most of my perfumes are sweet, floral scents which are mostly tailored to girls of my age. I did own Jennifer Aniston's perfume and that was definitely a more mature scent but since she is my woman crush I went through that perfume pretty quickly. A few of my other faves that I don't currently have are the Ralph Lauren Blue one (is it just called blue?), Miss Cherie Dior and Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb which is a big hit with bloggers it seems!

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Olympus Pen E-PL7

Black Friday rolled around and I saw that the Olympus Pen E-PL7 with memory card, bag, flash and zoom lens kit was going to have a huge saving on it, and with my first wage from Boots going in that day, it seemed to good to miss. The whole package was worth over £700, but with the Black Friday deal and student discount taken off, I saved a huge £425. I really can't complain.

I've only just began to use the camera and still learning how to use the features such as the fold out screen, the art settings and how to grasp using the aperture and ISO features that my boyfriend used to set up for me on his camera. I've taken a few shots for Instagram, since it has it's own wifi and I can send any photos to my phone to then upload almost instantly, which is so handy. I'll be using it full time to blog with and Andy will have his camera just for his use now which is good for the both of us, so you may see a change in my blog photos soon.

Of course there are things I need to get the grip of since it is different to the bridge camera I've been using. Most bloggers have the white version and although I'll admit that is what I was going to buy (it was eventually sold out), I'm so pleased I went with the silver/black version since it has that real retro feel to it. Once I get used to the camera I will take face photos for makeup and eventually outfit photos too. If anyone has any tips of any particular features are good then feel free to let me know!
If you enjoyed reading this post, make sure to check out similar posts below: The Best Blogging Tips Written By Bloggers How I Take My Blog/Instagram Photos How I Edit My Blog Photos The Best Beauty Hashtags To Get Your Photos Noticed How To Start A Blog

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How I Edit My Blog Photos

After blogging for over 18 months, I thought since I've been reflecting on how my blog photos have improved. At first, I was using my iPhone 5s which has an alright camera but isn't what I'm looking for. I then moved onto using Andy's Fujifilm bridge camera, and now recently my own Olympus Pen. It seems like a lifetime ago that I was using an iPhone to capture my photos, but not only was I doing that, I was losing quality by emailing myself them. I didn't edit my photos either and without good lighting, my photos were pretty bad.

I began really making the most out of natural light to capture the photos and began to see a vast improvement, especially when using a proper camera. It wasn't exactly what I was after though. I bought a beauty desk from IKEA which was completely white and obviously great for product photos but it didn't give it that oomph. I began using Adobe Photoshop (CS3 because I'm not made of money) to lighten the background, make text clearer and show off how beautiful some products are. To start I usually up the brightness and contrast, then use the curves function and play around until it looks right.

To finish off I use the image filter 'high pass' and overlay that with the soft light function which in short terms sharpens the image and takes it up a notch for photo quality. Aside from that, I only ever crop my photos and always resize my images to 1000 megapixels otherwise they don't load too well. As you can see from the above photos you can see how spending just five minutes editing a photo can completely knock the other out of the park and you're left with stunning photos without spending hundreds on box lights and the latest Canon camera. You can use free photo editing tools such as GIMP, Pixlr and PicMonkey which work just as well. The only thing I would always recommend would be to transfer photos using a memory card, never via email or text etc as you do reduce the quality of the photo.
When you come to think about it, once you've spent the time editing your photos and making them pretty, you improve your blog as a whole but you then have beautiful photos to use on Instagram and Pinterest which is an obvious plus considering that we all stride to have the perfect photo. You may see in some photos I use fake flooring from B&Q as the white background does get a little repetitive. Some bloggers using laminate flooring, marble lino and other backgrounds, it's all down to personal taste. For me, the white is my favourite as you can make your photos look more professional as you can lighten the background as much as you want. Make sure to have a play around with your photo editing and know that there isn't one way to edit photos!
If you're into tips posts, here's some other posts you may be interested in: The Best Blogging Tips Written By Bloggers Pinterest Tips For Bloggers 200 Blog Post Ideas How To Find Blogging Opportunities How To Promote Your Blog Posts How To Create A Successful Blog Post A Basic Guide To Working With Bloggers How To Start A Blog

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HQ Hair Kissmas Box & Blogmas Day 1

So the lovely HQ Hair gals sent me a secret santa present just in time for Christmas! I had no idea what to expect and was blown away by the effort they put in and the products they picked out. Over the Christmas period I will be trying and testing out these products and will be reporting back in my December favourites post at the end of the year!
The box contained: Grow Gorgeous Overnight Gorgeous Hair Masque which will help nourish my hair and allow it to grow longer and healthier, Garnier Ultralift Serum to help reduce the signs of fine lines and wrinkles whilst firming the skin, Maybelline Master Sculpt in Light/Medium to perfect my contour and highlight game, Hand Chemistry Heel Hydration Complex to soothe my heels by hydrating them and prevent hard skin, Maybelline Line Refine to finish off the perfect smokey eye, HD Brows Bombshell Palette which will work perfectly with the eyeliner, HD Brows Lipgloss in Bare which contains Vitamin E and antioxidants to soften my look, Pur Minerals Secret Crush Palette which contains mattes and shimmers similar to the Naked 3 Palette, and finally the Redken Metal Fix Pomade for your hair to add a bit of glitter to your hair that also smells amazing.
HQ Hair stock a number of other brands, including Nars which is my absolute favourite brand at the moment, along with Pixi, Bourjois, L'Oreál and other big brands so it's worth checking them out! I'm so excited to be collaborating with them and the testing out these products to see what is worth it. From my first impressions I can tell that HD Brows is one to look out for. I've heard a lot about their brow products so it will be interesting to see how their other makeup items fair. I'm a little wary of trying out glitter in my hair but it smells so lovely so I'm up for the challenge. Thanks for the box HQ Hair and Happy Kissmas to you too!
In similar news, this is the first post of blogmas! I'll be blogging every day this month so keep a look out for my other posts, featuring a mixture of Christmas and non-festive posts too. 

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